Tofino Time "With Intensity!"

As another restorative Tofino extra-long weekend winds down I wonder how it is that such a highly anticipated vacation could end so quickly. We’re not exactly home yet by any stretch, although it’s now the last evening in our cabin avec hot tub fronting Chesterman Beach.

We experienced a rather monotonous tone of weather this trip, mostly rain, although seemingly gale force at times. It certainly was a good test of my rain gear. My aged rain pants failed btw and had to be replaced in Tofino. They now complement the gumboots I bought in Uclulet years ago. We walked Tannah along the beach this morning and actually had to bail, returning via the road though the neighbourhood rather than along the beach because when we turned around to retrace out footsteps to the cabin we were being sandblasted by 45 degree wind. The raindrops actually stung our faces. I felt like one of those Florida reporters you see on TV sent to cover the hurricane du jour, battling Mother Nature just to maintain verticality.

Prior to departure from home the weather forecast had us on the edge of our seats as well as to whether or not we’d actually be able to pass through Port Alberni. A flood watch had been issued and the main bridge on Highway 4 was closed for a while. Traffic was being re-routed, lead by a pilot car. All was fine by the time we arrived however. Fortunately we’d padded our schedule with extra time in case of such diversions. A number of years ago (at least 10, probably 15 years ago) we’d cut it too close on a winter trip to Tofino by traveling on a later ferry and staying too long in Coombs. We learned the harrowing way that it’s best to arrive in Tofino during daylight hours rather than driving through intense rain after dark on a freshly paved road minus painted centre lines with tailgating locals pressuring us to exceed posted speed limits.

This has been a very satisfying trip in all aspects, including photographically. Armed with three cameras I managed to transform most of what intrigued me into pixelated format. Learning the art of photography has been an interesting journey thus far. Probably the best lesson I’ve learned (and it took a long time to master) was not getting hung up on how I think other photographers do things. In my opinion photography is very much about “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Don’t worry about how you think someone else would frame a shot or even choose a scene. I used to think that “real” photographers always got their shot the first or second try, or used the same camera for all their shots. Maybe some do, but I doubt it’s the norm.

This afternoon we had just finished watching the last 20 minutes of the football game (the BC Lions pulled the rug out from under the Blue Bombers in the last minutes of the game after trailing to that point) when I noticed the light outside was noticeably yellow (it actually reminded me of the yellow smoky haze that had crept into this area the last time we were here during the abnormally hot summer of 2014). At the same time I realized the torrential rain had stopped. That golden glow was the setting sun! To the beach; stat!

I almost missed that all-important sunset light. The colour range of ambient light I experienced in only about 5 minutes is astounding. By the time I donned my outdoor gear and was out the door that golden glow was well underway and it was transitioning into a purplish hue as I searched for a suitable silhouette subject to complement it.

This shot was taken only about 10 minutes later than the previous one.

So…another trip and another experience to reinforce that it really is all about the light. My task is to learn how to capture as many variances of light as possible with whichever camera I happen to have at my disposal. That’s another key concept; the best camera for the job is the one you happen to have with you.

Lots of November surfing action at Tofino. 

Tannah had a blast too.